Thursday, 7 October 2010

"Apple Hip" - any relation to "Apple-Bottoms"?

Now, Apple hip sounds like a uniquely Korean creation to me: you see, here in Korea, the word for "bum" or "ass" is often confused with the word for "hip" - as far as I can tell, they're one and the same word to Koreans, in the same way that there's pretty much just the word "neck" in Korean, rather than having separate words for your neck (usually meaning the back) and your throat (the soft front part). See also: jaw/chin. Those up on their North American slang know that apple bottom, over there, has a different meaning.

So, let's add "Apple Hip" to the list of english phrases that are weird Korean/Konglish renderings of North-American slang phrases.

Does anybody know more about Apple Hip products than what's in the article? James in The Grand Narrative writes about "apple hips" in Korea - including these ass-tastic TV ads. Looks like having "Apple Hips" in Korea (see below:)

Has a very different, um, connotation, than it does in North America:

oh gee. sorry folks. I can't bring myself to post what I got from searching youtube for "Apple bottom" on my blog -- for a PG-13 comparison of an American apple bottom, click here. To sum up: small waist + big round booty = apple bottom.

I've been told that having an apple face in Korea means being beautiful, but I haven't heard more detail than that: anybody well-versed in Korean beauty talk care to explain why having an apple face is good to Koreans? My high-beginner students tried to explain it to me a few nights ago (which is why this Apple hip article caught my eye), but didn't quite get it across.

3 comments:

Shortly after we married, I took my Korean wife sight-seeing in downtown Atlanta. She was astounded at all the comparatively voluptuous black women. They had curves in places that Korean women don't even have places.

There's a song in Korean that goes, "사과같은 내얼굴 blahblahblah" and there's another verse that goes "호박 같은 내얼굴" and says "my eyes are crooked, my nose is crooked, and my mouth is crooked" (whereas for the apple part they say everything's pretty). It's a really old song!

ME! (in photo form)

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame IT, blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place." -Rainer Maria Rilke